i 3 2 KINGSCLERE 



abstained from standing the favourite that the 

 weather and the going would beat him. They were 

 disappointed. The dark Dorcas made no show 

 whatever, and as for Gouverneur, he got no nearer 

 than second, two lengths behind Common, who 

 proved himself as capable of going the pace in soft 

 ground as he had done upon hard. To borrow the 

 reporter's graphic phrase, 'the odds of n to 10 

 on were never in doubt.' They laid 40 to 1 on 

 him for the St. James's Palace Stakes at Ascot, 

 reduced to a match with Barbatello, and he won 

 just as he liked. As to the Eclipse Stakes, which 

 was won by Surefoot, Gouverneur second, and 

 Common third, there is this to be said. A worse 

 course for Common could not have been chosen. 

 As a matter of fact, he only raced for about five 

 furlongs, and then he was beaten for speed by both 

 Surefoot and Gouverneur. Put the three together 

 at the same weights on a fairly straight course, 

 affording Common the liberty which he required to 

 let himself out from the beginning in order to do 

 justice to his commanding stride and pace, and what 

 would have been the result ? Common won the 

 St. Leger easily by a length, and was sold im- 

 mediately after the race to Sir Blundell Maple, M.P., 

 for 15,000/. It was a great price, and not easily 

 withstood. On Sir Blundell Maple's part, purchas- 

 ing the horse at that moment was, in view of 

 the stud career of the triple winner, sagacious. 

 Nevertheless, Porter thinks it a great pity that 

 Common was not allowed to run again another year. 



